{"71562":{"#nid":"71562","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech and Shepherd Center Awarded $4.75 Million Grant","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology and Shepherd Center have been awarded\na $4.75 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s\nNational Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for\nresearch and development of wireless technologies aimed at enhancing the lives\nof people with disabilities. The grant supports the continuation of a\ndecade of innovative research and engineering at the Wireless Rehabilitation\nEngineering Research Center (RERC), a collaboration between Shepherd Center and\nGeorgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis funding will allow us to move into new and emerging\nareas and leverage our relationships with the wireless industry, disability\norganizations, governmental agencies, and other researchers and engineers to\npromote equitable access to wireless technologies and to develop new assistive\ntechnologies built on wireless platforms,\u201d said Helena Mitchell, executive director of the\nCenter for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) at Georgia Tech\u2019s School of\nPublic Policy and principal investigator and co-director of the Wireless RERC\ngrant. \u201cThis award affirms the growing importance of wireless\ntechnologies for those who have disabilities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe award is the third consecutive five-year grant awarded\nto this team of researchers and engineers. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are pleased that NIDRR continues to support the Wireless RERC\u2019s important\nwork,\u201d said Mike Jones, director of Shepherd\u2019s Crawford Research Institute and\nco-director for the Wireless RERC grant. \u201cThe rapid pace at which wireless technology\nhas evolved over the past several years \u2013 a pace that is expected to accelerate\nin the future \u2013 requires ongoing effort to ensure that the accessibility needs\nof people with disabilities are incorporated into new technologies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn technology development,\nthe Wireless RERC will launch a new incubator to develop software applications\n(\u201capps\u201d); the Apps Factory will fund innovative internal and external ideas on\na competitive basis to provide apps to people with disabilities across a wide\nrange of platforms.\u0026nbsp; This work will\nenhance accessibility to this critical wireless technology and build new\nassistive tools based on these \u201csmart\u201d wireless platforms. Additionally, the\nWireless RERC will continue its work developing solutions to enhance the\neffectiveness and accessibility of emergency alerting and access to 9-1-1\nemergency services. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Wireless RERC will also\ncontinue its focus on consumer and public policy research, including wireless\nuse and usability by consumers with disabilities and studies that may shape the\ndevelopment of public policy primarily related to general accessibility and emergency\ncommunications.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur public policy work is\na critical component of the Wireless RERC,\u201d Mitchell noted. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the years, CACP has submitted\n29 filings for proposed rulemakings before the FCC and other regulatory\nagencies pertaining to issues of telecommunications access and emergency communications. CACP\nfilings have been referenced or cited more than 60 times in ongoing rulemakings,\nincluding final rules and orders regarding advanced technologies and accessible\nmobile alerts.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Wireless RERC is one of more than 20 RERCs in\nthe United States.\u0026nbsp;Other RERCs are devoted to fields such as aging,\nhearing impairment, visual impairment, public transportation, workplace\naccommodations, universal design, wheeled mobility and information technology\naccess.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech participants in the Wireless RERC also include\nthe Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), College\nof Computing (CoC), Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC), School of\nPublic Policy (SPP) and the School of Psychology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Funding Supports Development of Wireless Technologies for People with Disabilities"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology and Shepherd\nCenter have been awarded a $4.75 million, five-year grant from the U.S.\nDepartment of Education\u2019s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation\nResearch (NIDRR) for research and development of wireless technologies aimed at\nenhancing the lives of people with disabilities. The\ngrant supports the continuation of a decade of innovative research and\nengineering at the Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC),\na collaboration between Shepherd Center and Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and Shepherd Center have been awarded $4.75 million to continue efforts to enhance the lives of people with disabilities."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2011-10-19 10:49:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:30","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71473":{"id":"71473","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1449177386","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:26","changed":"1475894637","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:57"}},"media_ids":["71473"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.wirelessrerc.org\/","title":"Wireless RERC"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.shepherd.org\/","title":"Shepherd Center"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cacp.gatech.edu\/","title":"CACP"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.imtc.gatech.edu\/","title":"Interactive Media Technology Center"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"3632","name":"CACP"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"11435","name":"Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College"},{"id":"167278","name":"Shepherd Center"},{"id":"14804","name":"Wireless RERC"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jason.maderer@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}